JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The man who authorities said deliberately drove a van into a tent where voters were being registered by local Republicans on Saturday was working as a stagehand and had been living in northeast Florida for two years, according to jail records and an arrest report.
Gregory Timm, 27, was a stagehand who had been referred work through the local International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, according to the arrest report.
Jail booking information said he had lived in Jacksonville for two years.
The heavily redacted arrest report didn't offer a motive for the Saturday incident and didn't reveal Timm's political affiliations. It said he was born in Des Moines, Iowa.
No one on Monday answered the door at the Southside address listed on the arrest report, which is less than a mile from where the party workers were attacked. Neighbors said he had rented a room in a house there for about one year, but they only knew him in passing.
“My girlfriend saw that van on the news and she said, ‘Look, that’s the van that’s parked in the driveway around the corner,'" said one neighbor who did not his name used. “Next thing we knew, they were three cop cars out here.”
According to Florida records, Timm is not registered to vote in the state.
The attack on Republican Party volunteers was condemned by politicians from Jacksonville, the state, both of Florida’s U.S. Senators and President Donald Trump. Monday morning, the Duval County GOP chairman called Timm a “coward who attacked us tried to sweep us from the streets.”
Timm has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a person 65 years old or older, one count of criminal mischief and driving with a suspended license. There were no injuries. The arrest report said no drugs or alcohol were involved.
During his first appearance before a judge on Sunday, Timm acknowledged the media in the courtroom and smirked at the cameras. Bail was set at $530,000.
Witnesses told deputies Timm slowly drove by a tent that had been set up by local Republicans in a parking lot on Saturday to register voters. Afterward, he backed up, recorded the damaged tent and scattered signs on his cellphone and made obscene gestures before leaving, Alfieri said.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, IATSE Local 115 wrote that Timm was not an employee of the union but had been referred for job placement through the union’s hiring hall. The group represents about 650 stagehands.
“The membership of IATSE Local 115 is a diverse group of workers with varying political beliefs and is outraged at the actions of Gregory William Timm," the statement said. “IATSE Local Union 115 never condones violence against persons or property for any reason whatsoever.”